For too long now, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, great sources of strength, purity, knowledge and inspiration for the Ummah, have not been adequately tapped. Skirting their peripheries or over-dwelling on one or two of their multifarious facets and tributaries has done a disservice to the immense potential of the fountainhead, while denying the Ummah- indeed the whole world- innumerable benefits from them. Now that the Ummah is becoming increasingly aware of its own problems as well as latent powers, and yearns to revive its leading role in the forging of history and cilization, the issue of drawing on the wellspring becomes more relevant and urgent. Revisiting these two sources is no longer a scholastic, academic, nostalgic, or escapist indulgence, but a great journey of discovery that promises untold rewards. Paradoxically, the journey through the resplendent pages of the Qur’an and the Sunnah to a time and place in the past should yield a more mature awareness of the dynamics of social and historical change and a human being’s role on earth, honing and sharpening the Muslims’ capacity to deal with the demands of the present moment and the challenges of the future. Suggestions for a new reading of the Qur’an and the Sunnah have been put forward from Islamic and other angles in the recent years. In this book Dr. Al-Alwani and Dr. Khalil, two well-known Muslim thinkers, contribute their views for a proper approach to these sources from within the Islamic framework.

The Qur’an and Sunnah are the two primary sources of Muslim faith, life, law and morality. The Qur’an is for Muslims the foundation of their faith and the Sunnah is the framework of their morality. Together they constitute the two sources of the law (Shari’ah) of God, a guide to prosperity and happiness in this life and to the bliss of the hereafter. Although the Qur’an and Sunnah are materially and formally two independent sources, they are inextricably bound in a dynamic relationship. The rulings and precepts (ahkam) of the Qur’an constitute the law (shar’) of God. They are supplemented by the precepts of the authentic Sunnah, which possess authority second only to the precepts of the Qur’an. The Qur’an commands Muslims, “Whatever the Messenger gives you, that you must take, and whatever he forbids you, you must desist therefrom....” (59:7).

It is the aim of this book while clarifying doubts and misconceptions, to provide a thorough reappraisal of the intellectual and rich cultural heritage of Islam with regards to the principles and practice of medicine and its representation to the world in the language of today. In nine chapters a range of topics are discussed including: The Promotion of Medical Education and Health Services; Personal and Environmental Hygiene; Circumcision; Manners of Eating; Social and Mental Heath; Curative Medicine; The Provision of Adequate and Potable Water; Magic, Witchcraft, Enchantments and Charms; Euthanasia; Suicide; The Rehabilitation of the Sick and the Needy; The Source of Human Creation; Sex Differentiation and Determination; Healing through Miracles; Magic and Soothsaying; HIV Infection and AIDS; Abortion; Females in Medical Practice; and The Challenges of Modem Medicine to Muslims.

Did the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teach true Islam or was he simply a powerful social reformer who spun an interpretation of Islam which, while socially and culturally uplifting, was religiously blasphemous? What criteria should be used to assess his Islamicity? The Qur an and Sunnah obviously, but whose reading of the Qur an and Sunnah is to be privileged in this discussion? Islamic scholar Dr Wesley Muhammad, who holds a Doctorate in Islamic Studies from one of America s top Public Ivy League universities, brings to this discussion for the first time a wealth of information from and concerning the Classical Arabic/Islamic tradition that has up until now been omitted. This work by Dr Wesley puts the most controversial aspect of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad s teachings the claim that God is a man in the context of the Classical Arabic/Islamic Tradition. He demonstrates that the original Arabic context of the Qur an and the Sunnah, as well as the Arabic Sunni orthodoxy that first came together in the 8th-9th centuries, was markedly different from the de-Arabized orthodoxy that will develop later and which now dominates all discussion of God in Islam. When judged on the basis of this de-Arabized Islam, the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad indeed appear radically divergent and un-islamic . However, when viewed from the perspective of the Arabic Qur an and Sunnah and the Arabic Sunni Tradition that Dr. Wesley has helped rediscover, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad s teachings appear recognizably Islamic as they are consistent with what came to and through Prophet Muhammad b. Abd Allah, the Seal of the Prophets. This newly revised 2nd edition also includes an intense academic dialogue between the scholars of the respective religious communities of Minister Louis Farrakhan (Nation of Islam) and Imam W.D. Mohammed (Mosque Cares) discussing the controversial subject matter.